


Pie and Family

by anotherfngrl



Series: Sunshine Universe [5]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alexander Hamilton Bakes, Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens Fluff, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baking, Bisexual Alexander Hamilton, Cooking, Family, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Gay John Laurens, Human Disaster Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens is such a Mom, M/M, Modern Era, Pie, Pip is precious, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, family traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27727062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherfngrl/pseuds/anotherfngrl
Summary: It's... pie fic. It's fic I wrote while I waited for my pies to cool enough to cover them and put them away. But really, what is pie fic if not family fluff??It's vaguely in the You Are My Sunshine verse, which is based on withlove_sid's lovely Ballet of Sunshine. But really the only tell that it's that and not any other modern!AU is that John calls Pip Jelly Bean. So don't feel like you need to be familiar with that.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton & Phillip Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, John Laurens & Phillip Hamilton
Series: Sunshine Universe [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002852
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	1. John- Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ballet of Sunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413449) by [withlove_sid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/withlove_sid/pseuds/withlove_sid). 



> Pie. Fic about pie. That's what's happening, gang.
> 
> I challenged myself to write something under 5,000 words. I seem to do long epics, lately. This is that something.

John calls his boyfriend when he gets off work, delighted at the prospect of an extra couple of days off to spend with his two favorite guys. “Hey, I’m headed home. What do you want to do about dinner?” he asks

Even through just a cell phone connection, Alex sounds harried. “Can you pick something up? I’m… kind of having a disaster, here.”

“Is Pip okay?” John asks, immediately worried. Alex accrues vacation time like it’s a contest, never using any of it, and Washington sat him down at the beginning of October and threatened to drop him on a deserted island if he didn’t  _ choose _ to take a break sometime soon. Ergo, Alex has taken the entire week off, since Pip is out of school for Thanksgiving Break. He’d planned to do the grocery shopping for tomorrow, but since it’s just the three of them, they aren’t doing anything extreme. It shouldn’t have been a huge undertaking, even with the last minute crowds.

“I’m fine, Mom!” Pip shouts. The first grader is apparently with his father, at least. That’s a good sign. John hopes.

He smiles- he’s never stopped loving Pip’s silly habit of calling him ‘Mom’. As Pip had reasoned it when they first met, he had a Dad, Uncles and Aunts, and a Laf, who defies any attempt at labels. But the woman who gave birth to him is not his ‘Mom’ in any conventional way, so the job had been vacant. Pip feels that John fills it quite well.

His smile vanishes when Pip adds, “And nothing’s on fire!” Pip’s reassurances tend to have the opposite effect, as John rarely anticipates the things that go wrong when he leaves Alex and Pip alone.

“Was something on fire earlier, jelly bean?” John asks, coming to a standstill beside the subway staircase instead of going down. He doesn’t want to lose the connection until he knows they’re okay.

“Daddy said it wasn’t a fire, just a little smoke. It  _ smelled _ like a fire! Oooh, can we have fancy rice for dinner?” Pip asks.

Fancy rice is hibachi. There’s actually a to go hibachi place a couple of stops before home, he can do that. Pip probably thought of it because they’ve eaten in a few times and seen the chef work. Pip loves the onion volcano.

“I can do that, jelly bean.  _ If _ you and your Daddy promise to take care of each other, and no more fires- or things that smell like fires- until I get home!” John tells him.

“We promise, Mommy,” the Hamilton boys sing-song at him in tandem. John smiles.

“I love you both. I’ll be home soon with fancy rice,” John promises. He ends the call to Alex’s assurances that they love him too, and Pip’s kissy noises into the phone.

He smiles as he pockets his phone and heads down into the Subway. His life is never boring- and John Laurens loves every second of it.


	2. Alex- Baking Disasters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Pip have had a messy and not altogether productive day of baking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to keep sporadically updating throughout the day, because like I said, the whole thing is already done. Just logically splits into chapters.  
> Happy Thanksgiving!

“I thought we agreed we were surprising Mommy?” Alex asks Pip, hands on his hips as he regards his son with playful annoyance.

“We did,” Pip agrees placidly. “But surprises don’t mean we get to keep secrets about dangerous stuff. You said.”

So he had, when Pip had wandered off in a park, scared John to death, and then convinced John not to tell him, because Pip didn’t want his Daddy to be mad and John didn’t want Alex to think he didn’t take good care of Pip. Neither ‘boy’ had lasted till bedtime with the secret- though both had entirely blamed themselves. They’d been scouting locations for a Father’s Day picnic, and justified not telling him at the time with ‘not wanting to ruin the surprise’.

Pip had gotten a time out and he and John had had one of their worst fights to date, culminating in a guilty John storming out and avoiding them both for two days until Eliza’d talked some sense into him. John is so good with Pip, and so mature, that Alex forgets sometimes that he’s a couple of years younger than the rest of their friends. Practically a kid himself. Though Alex was, too, when he became a father.

Still, he can well believe Pip doesn’t want a repeat of that weekend. And he wasn’t really angry with the little boy, anyway. He scoops Pip up off the chair he’d been standing in to ‘help’ with the pie, hugging him tight.

“You’re right, I did say that. And it’s very important that we’re all honest with each other. I just want Mommy to be surprised, that we made the pies ourselves!” Alex assures the little boy, setting him on his feet.

“But I think the next attempt is going to have to wait until after dinner- and after I get some more corn syrup. Why don’t you go play, and I’ll do an Amazon Fresh order?” he suggests to his son.

Pip runs off happily, And Alex takes stock of the kitchen. He’d burned the shit out of a pie crust, trying to prebake it for a pecan pie. Then, he’d created a congealed disaster, trying to make one without prebaking the pie crust. There’s got to be a happy medium! Those two mistakes don’t even factor in the disaster that had happened when he tried to make his own crust. The less said about that mess- and the pound of butter and bag of flour that had gone into the learning experience- the better.

With that thought in mind, Alex sets himself to cleaning up the kitchen while he waits for John to get home. He empties the trash, gathering up the detritus of his failed attempts and constructing a mental shopping list as he cleans.

“Pip, I’m going to the trash,” he calls, and Pip calls out something vaguely affirmative as Alex lets himself out to throw away the evidence of the day’s mishaps. Now, if he can just apply what he’s learned from his last couple of failed attempts, John will never need to know how much trouble went into the pie baking.

This is their first major holiday ‘as a family’, and Alex wants it to be perfect. Last year, things were still new, and John had gone home to South Carolina. This year, he’d made his excuses to stick around, and Alex couldn’t be more thrilled. He’d also made his excuses to get out of his usual Thanksgiving plans- after a long talk with Pip to make sure the little boy really was okay with changing up their routine- and now they’re set to spend the holiday at home, just the three of them.

Alex doesn’t really have Thanksgiving traditions of his own- not long term ones, anyway. But John had seemed excited about the holiday, and he’s shared a few memories of favorite dishes, and helping his Mom cook when he was young. Alex wants this Thanksgiving to be just as special, for all of them, and he’s determined to make sure it is.


	3. John: Dinner and A Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John is finally home.

John breathes a sigh of relief as he closes the front door behind him. Home at last. “Mommy!” Pip calls, and he hears the little boy race down the hall before he’s tackled around the waist in a hug.

“Hey, jelly bean!” he says, setting down his messenger bag so he can put a hand on the little boy’s back. “I got your fancy rice! You ready for dinner?”

“Yes! C’mon!” Pip demands, tugging him forward. John laughs, slipping out of his shoes and following obediently.

They find Alex waiting in an unexpectedly clean kitchen. John whistles appreciatively. “We’re ready for Thanksgiving, alright! Plenty of room to cook. The kitchen looks great,” he says, kissing Alex lightly in thanks.

He’s got a simple meal planned- Pip hates turkey, so they’re doing dressing with chicken cooked in, ham, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. He’d told Alex to buy the pies, the rolls, canned cranberry sauce, and even precooked ham and a rotisserie chicken for the dressing. It may be simple- they also have boxed mac and cheese and instant potatoes ready in case one of his recipes goes wrong- but he’s looking forward to sharing the experience of cooking and eating the holiday meal with the man he loves and their little boy. It’s been a long time- since his mother died- since John had a Thanksgiving dinner that wasn’t catered.

When he left this morning the kitchen table was serving as Alex’s auxiliary office and the counter had been cluttered with dishes that needed washing and things like cereal they’d grabbed and gotten distracted without putting away. The counters and table are clean, now.

“Figured we might as well be ready,” Alex says. He sniffs the bag in John’s hand. “Ooh, that smells good.”

“Let’s eat, while it’s hot!” John says, opening up containers while Alex gets out plates.

It’s not until after dinner, when he’s boxing up leftovers as Alex and Pip do dishes, that it begins to dawn on John that something is wrong. Alex is acting… off. Just a little odd, like there’s something he’s itching to get done but he doesn’t feel like he can for some reason. And he doesn’t see any pies sitting out on the counter anywhere- He’d told Alex to get pumpkin and something else, for sure.

John considers asking about the oversight, but decides not to. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and he’s spending it with the two most important people in his life. If Alex has forgotten to pick up some critical component of the meal, they will live. Worst case, they’ll pop out to a restaurant for dinner or dessert, or make do with frozen food and ice cream.

John takes a deep breath and lets go of all of his preconceived notions of what Thanksgiving should be. Just like he’s fine without turkey- was honestly relieved not to be expected to be able to cook one, he admits to himself- whatever goes wrong between now and when they sit down for the meal tomorrow won’t change the fact that he’s unspeakably thankful for his family.

John has just finished the thought when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Alex announces, rushing to do just that. He comes back a moment later and slides an Amazon Fresh bag surreptitiously into the pantry. That’s one mystery solved, at least- Alex forgot some of the shopping, and he’d ordered it for delivery and been anxious about it arriving.

John just smiles at his partner, pulling him in for a kiss as he walks by instead of asking about the delivery. Whatever’s going on tonight, tomorrow is going to be perfect, he just knows it.

Once the dishes are done, Alex surveys the room and says, “What does everybody think about watching a movie?”

“Ooh! A Thanksgiving movie?” Pip asks excitedly, rushing to the living room to turn the TV on.

“I don’t know if there are any Thanksgiving movies?” John says. All he can think of are Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Addams Family Values, both of which are a little old for Pip to enjoy.

“Ooh,” Alex suggests, “What about Clue?”

John just stares at him. Alex grins. “Come on, it’s a bunch of people coming together, sitting down for dinner and winding up wanting to kill one another. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving movie!”

“Is Clue appropriate for six year olds?” John asks. He vaguely remembers seeing it once as a teenager, but all that really sunk in is that it’s about murder.

“Probably not,” Alex realizes. John wanders into the living room, and Alex pulls out his phone to search Thanksgiving movies. “Chicken Run?” he says, tilting his head. It’s obvious he hasn’t seen it.

“Is about chickens who don’t want to be dinner,” John warns him, quietly, lest Pip hear.

Alex’s eyes widen and he keeps scrolling. Certain soft hearted little boys in the household might find it hard to eat their dinner tomorrow, after that particular film. Pip, meanwhile, has turned on the TV and gone to the search function, holding down the button for audio input and asking, “Thanksgiving movies for kids.”

John looks between father and son, wondering who will come up with a solution first. Pip beats his dad to it when he crows, “This one!”

He’s got Charlie Brown Thanksgiving highlighted, and John grins. “That’s perfect, Pip!” he says.

Alex looks up from his searching and nods. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.”

“You’ll love it, it’s great!” John assures him. The adults settle themselves on either side of Pip on the couch, and they snuggle together as the little boy starts the movie.


	4. Alex- Family Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex, John, and Pip watch a movie. Then Pip goes to bed, and the grown ups relax together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, I also write a D/s verse, and I'm totally looking for holiday advent prompts (that will probably wind up in the verse, but I'm flexible!) Feel free to prompt something for the advent fic wheel.

Pip is tired by the time the short movie ends, leaning his head on his father’s arm and barely keeping his eyes open. “You guys must’ve had a busy day,” John says fondly.

“Lots’a important stuff,” Pip agrees sleepily.

“Well, since tomorrow’s important, too, we should probably get you to bed, jelly bean. Don’t you think? Who do you want to tuck you in?” John asks. He neatly circumvents the argument about whether Pip is tired by offering him the choice of bedtime options. Alex is impressed.

Pip gives the question the consideration it deserves. “Mommy?” he says, finally. John positively lights up. Alex grins. He’d thought he’d be jealous, sharing Pip’s affection with someone else, but he finds that he loves John  _ and _ Pip too much for it to be an issue. Seeing them happy makes him happy, every time.

John helps a sleepy Pip stand up, and the little boy reaches out for a hug from his Daddy before he heads upstairs. Alex gives him one, squeezing him tight and kissing his hair. “Sleep tight, Pip. Tomorrow’s a big day,” he tells the little boy. They share a conspiratorial grin as Pip releases him, taking John’s hand to head upstairs.

Alex takes advantage of John’s trip upstairs to look through his grocery supplies. He’s got new corn syrup, and, after all the trouble he’s had with pie so far, pumpkin pie filling he just has to dump in a pie crust and bake. He’d also ordered more Pillsbury pie crust, but he’d doubled back to stick that in the fridge while John was focused on the movie. He pulls it out now, to check the instructions. It suggests leaving it out to reach room temperature before baking with it, and he makes a mental note- maybe that’s what went wrong with the one that broke into pieces when he tried to put it in the tin.

Reassured that he has a plan, Alex puts the pie crust back in the fridge to deal with after John goes to bed and returns to the living room, where his boyfriend joins him a few minutes later.

“He barely stayed awake through ‘You Are My Sunshine’,” John reports. The lullaby is Pip’s favorite, and usually what John starts with when he sings to the little boy as he tucks him in. Pip must have been tired- of course, he’d been an active participant in the pie crust disasters and the multiple grocery shopping trips today.

“I still want to watch Clue,” Alex announces. There’s just something so silly about calling it a Thanksgiving movie, he’s amused by the idea and determined to capitalize on it.

“I’m game. I’ve only seen it once, a few years ago,” John admits.

“You’ll love it,” Alex assures him.

“It can be our own Thanksgiving tradition,” John says with a grin.

“A little silly, a little twisted. Just like us,” Alex agrees, smiling softly and kissing him before queing up the movie.

John  _ does _ love Clue, and he howls with laughter over the multiple, varied endings, thoroughly amused. “Tim Curry is  _ amazing,” _ he says at the end. 

“Please tell me you’ve seen Rocky Horror,” Alex checks, suddenly concerned.

“Been to a shadowcast. In fishnets and a corset,” John assures him. “That’s part of why I’m so impressed- hell of a contrast.”

Alex’s brain has momentarily shorted out at the mental image his boyfriend has presented. “I’m going to need to see that outfit,” he decides, tilting John back onto the couch.

“Make it worth my while, and I’ll dig it up for you,” John promises, and Alex nips at his neck and sets about doing just that.

They make out on the couch like teenagers for a while before John yawns. “Am I not interesting enough for you?” Alex teases.

“Tired,” John reports. “I should probably call it a night. Lots to do tomorrow morning, if we want to eat before midnight.”

“I’ve got some things to take care of,” Alex tells him, rolling off of John and standing to offer him a hand.

John takes the hand up, smiling and giving him one more kiss before heading upstairs to bed.

Once he’s sure his boyfriend is safely upstairs, Alex returns to the kitchen. He’s got work to do.


	5. John: Cornbread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John realizes he forgot to make the cornbread, and goes back downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pie fic is complete! I hope you enjoyed my nonsense, I thoroughly enjoyed subjecting you to it!

John is in bed and mostly asleep when he sits up, realization hitting him like a bolt in the chest. Something isn’t right. At first he thinks that the problem is that Alex isn’t in bed, but he’s well used to his boyfriend staying up half the night working. He thinks about it for a long moment, then remembers. He forgot to make the cornbread! Dressing needs cornbread, and making it and letting it cool in the morning before he can even start the dressing would throw off his whole plan for the day.

Reluctant and exhausted, he drags himself out of bed. Alex will be working away in his office- and he’ll actually be in his office, since he cleared off what he’d been working on on the kitchen table. John sighs. He’d at least have liked company, if he’s going to bake cornbread at midnight.

This is what he gets, for deciding to cook Thanksgiving dinner and not writing out a proper plan of attack. John does well with lists and specific goals, but he hadn’t wanted to get too invested in the details and spend the day snapping at Alex and Pip. Instead, he’s letting too much go.

He heads downstairs, surprised lights are still on in the kitchen. He’d turned them off on his way up. Maybe Alex went in to get a drink or something and forgot to shut them back off. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Instead, he finds his boyfriend, biting his lip worriedly as he stares at a skillet on the stove. John sniffs, and suddenly realizes it wasn’t his forgotten cornbread that had seemed wrong when he woke up, it was the scent of baking that had permeated the house.

Alex… appears to be making pie.

John stares at him from the kitchen entrance for a long moment. Maybe he’s still asleep? This doesn’t make any sense.

Eventually, Alex becomes aware of his scrutiny and turns. “John! What are you doing up?” he asks.

“I forgot to make the cornbread for the dressing. You using the oven?” John asks, still confused by what he’s seeing.

“The pecan pie is in there, but it’ll be done soon, and the apples need to cool before I do the apple pie. I was going to do the pumpkin while I waited, but it’s so simple, I can save it for later,” Alex assures him.

John nods sagely. “Alex,” he says slowly, “Are you making our pies?”

Alex nods, looking suddenly shy. “You said pecan pie was your favorite, and there wasn’t one at Whole Foods, or Trader Joe’s. That’s what I get for waiting until the last minute, I guess. Pip wants pumpkin, and that seemed easy enough if I was making pecan anyway. Pecan is harder than I expected, but I think I’ve got it this time. I watched a few youtube videos before Pecan Pie 3.0,” he announces.

“Then I remembered you said pumpkin ‘and pecan or apple or something’ so I decided I should do apple, too. And I found a recipe that’s supposedly really good, but something’s wrong,” Alex reports.

“What?” John asks, peering over his shoulder into the skillet, which Alex is still stirring.

“It’s a carmelized apple pie. You precook the apples. But I made caramel?” Alex explains.

“That’s the idea, isn’t it? It’s in the name,” John asks, confused. He gets out cornbread ingredients while they talk.

“No, carmelized apples, like carmelized onions. Cooked until they get kind of brown around the edges. But I made caramel, and I don’t know how it happened, and between that and the cinnamon, I can’t decide if the apples are carmelizing or not,” Alex explains.

“Well, if you made actual caramel, I’d say probably,” John assures him.

“Okay, then I’m going to call it good and do the others,” Alex decides. He goes to pour the apples from the skillet into a tupperware plastic storage container, and John realizes what’s about to happen just in time to stop him.

“Don’t!” he yelps.

Alex freezes, his expression deer-in-headlights. “What? What did I do?” he asks.

“Tupperware isn’t going to stand up to apples that hot. It’ll melt. You need glass or ceramic or something,” John tells him. He gets down one of the mixing bowls, then realizes he needs it for the cornbread. “Umm…” he says, intelligently.

“I’ll just rinse the one I used for the pecan pie filling,” Alex decides, setting the skillet down on the other burner and going to do just that.

“Where’d you find the pie recipe?” John asks conversationally. “I’ve heard of caramel apple pie, but not carmelized apple pie.”

“Tasty,” Alex explains. Alex has been known to spend hours scrolling their videos on youtube, even though he has no intention of cooking any of it- John shouldn’t be surprised “It’s a Gordon Ramsey one, so it should be good. If I can get it right.”

John mixes the cornbread while Alex sees to the apples. “I think I’m using too much liquid?” he reports. “That’s why I’m getting caramel. It’s basically apple juice and the excess sugar from the coating on the apples. Except I didn’t add any. Maybe these are just unusually wet apples.”

“When did you cut them up?” John asks.

“Before you got home,” Alex explains. “Pip helped me toss them in cinnamon sugar, and I put them aside for later after the pecan pie disasters.”

“That explains it, then. They had time to lose some moisture. But I’m sure it’ll be amazing.Gordon Ramsey approved, after all. And if it’s not, we’ve got pumpkin pie and pecan pie, too,” John reminds him. “Alex, you do realize there are only three of us?”

“Laf will help with leftovers. They think our silly American holiday is ‘quaint’, but they love pie,” Alex assures him.

“I hadn’t even thought- Laf isn’t American. It makes sense that they wouldn’t celebrate. You weren’t born here either- do you usually?” John asks.

“Since I got Pip,” Alex reports. “It was never really a big thing, in my foster homes. They did their best, of course, but making a special meal for us wasn’t really a priority, even in the good ones.”

John wraps his arms around his boyfriend from behind, hugging him close as Alex stirs his new batch of apples. “What do you and Pip usually do?” he asks.

“We go to the Schuyler’s with Eliza. Or Washington had us over one year, when Pip was three and not doing great with long car rides,” Alex explains. “They both invited us this year, but I declined.”

John feels guilty. “I hope I didn’t mess up your plans.”

“No, they understood. I couldn’t very well ask Senator Laurens’ son to be seen at Senator Schuyler’s Thanksgiving dinner table,” Alex says. “Or Senator Washington’s, for that matter. They both do the family interest bit, humanizing our politicians, for the holiday.”

“Have you ever realized,” John muses, “That every father figure the two of us have, combined, is a Senator?”

“Maybe not for much longer, if Washington decides to run for President,” Alex reminds him.

“I hope he does. Dad’s considering it, too, though,” John reports.

Alex groans. “That sounds like a problem for another day. Today, it’s officially Thanksgiving- as of ten minutes ago- and I am going to make pie and be thankful we get to spend the day together, as a family.”

“I love you,” John says, kissing his ear. It’s the best he can do, draped across Alex’s back as he cooks.

A timer dings.

“Finish getting your cornbread ready, that should be the pecan pie,” Alex announces.

He pulls it out, then frowns. “I’m not sure this one worked, either. It’s not jiggly anymore, but what’s with the foamy bits?”

“It’s not foam,” John assures him, poking it lightly with a wooden spoon. “It just bubbled as it cooked, and some of the bubbles popped but held their shape, I guess. It looks right to me.”

“I’ve never seen pecan pie that looked like this,” Alex tells him.

“That is because you are a city boy, and you are used to pecan pie from the city, that you buy in grocery stores. That is a southern pecan pie. Where on earth did you find the recipe?” John asks.

“Don’t get mad?” Alex asks tentatively.

“I don’t like the sound of that. Put the oven on 350 for me?” John requests. Alex does, and he pops the cornbread in.

“It needs to get hotter,” Alex tells him, worried.

“Cornbread is hard to mess up. And this is just getting crumbled up into the dressing and cooked again, anyway. It’ll be fine,” John assures him. “Now, why would I get mad?”

“I called Martha for the pecan pie recipe. You said it was your favorite, and I panicked when I couldn’t find one, and I knew she’d know…” Alex trails off. “She couldn’t find your Mom’s, but she said this was the closest she saw online. I tried to make the crust like it said, which was a disaster, so I did give in and use premade, though.”

“Alex,” John thinks his heart might burst. His boyfriend looks at him uncertainly. “You baked me a pecan pie. You are baking several pies. I asked you to pick some up at the store, and you decided to make them yourself, and tomorrow when we’ve already stuffed ourselves sick, our family is going to sit at this table and eat pie you made. You had Pip help you, for crying out loud. I am not upset that you called my sister. My sister loves you. I’m not sure she wouldn’t trade you for me, if she could figure out how.”

John shakes his head, gathering his thoughts. Alex turns off the burner the second batch of apples were on, pushing them to the cool burner, as he waits for him to continue.

“Alex… I wanted a family Thanksgiving. And for me, that means cooking it ourselves. After my mom died… I’ve had a lot of catered Thanksgivings, complete with press ops. I didn’t want that this year. I wanted something better, for us. Something more genuine. But I knew it wasn’t what you were used to, and so all I asked for was your patience, while I did it myself. But Alex, that’s not all you gave me. You’re helping to make it happen. You’re involving Pip. You’re really making it a family holiday.”

John feels himself tearing up, but he continues anyway. “Alex, that’s what I miss about Thanksgiving with my Mom. Cooking together. Tasting things for her and helping her stir and messing things up and trying again, but doing it together. Doing it for each other. Because we love each other. Tomorrow won’t be a fine, fancy meal. Something will burn, or take too long, or we’ll forget a crucial component, like I almost forgot the cornbread. But it will be the most perfect Thanksgiving possible, because it’s ours.”

Alex hugs him, then, apparently sensing that he’s done or just unable to stand back and watch John cry any longer. John clings to him, holding on tight. Because he can. Because this- this family, this moment- are his, and this Thanksgiving, that’s what he’s thankful for.


End file.
